Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
Parent Trigger Updates
Here are some new articles giving updates on the parent trigger: With ‘Parent Trigger’ laws on the ropes, three overhauled schools reopen in Los Angeles is from The Hechinger Report. First public school seized by parents set to open is from Politico.
JUL 25
Writing Letters To Parents At The Start Of The Year
A new school year will be starting next month for many educators, students and parents. Here are a few resources offering ideas for what to put in letters educators can send home to parents to start the year: Joe Mazza has a shared Google Doc full of ideas. Dear Parents… The Message I Send Home Prior To the First Day is from Matt Gomez. 9 Suggestions for the Welcome Back to School letter from the
“LAUSD parents, teachers fight mainstreaming of disabled kids”
LAUSD parents, teachers fight mainstreaming of disabled kids is an article in the Los Angeles Daily News. Here’s an excerpt: Waving signs and chanting “Our kids, our choice,” scores of Los Angeles Unified parents and teachers protested the looming transfer of hundreds of disabled students from special-education centers to traditional schools, as the district complies with laws to integrate student
JUL 24
“Trusting Teachers Is a Means to Authentic Parent Engagement”
Trusting Teachers Is a Means to Authentic Parent Engagement is an interesting post by Kim Farris-Berg over at Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Reasons Why Parents Should Be Looked At As Allies & Not Targets Of Blame.
JUL 23
Infographic: “27 Ways to Increase Family Involvement In My Class”
Thanks to TeachThought for the tip.
Schools In Madison, Wisconsin Increase Number Of Parent Coordinators
Schools in Madison, Wisconsin, are increasing their number of parent coordinators (they call them liaisons). New York City looks like they might be going in the opposite direction. Who do you think is moving in the right direction?
“New law aids parents of special needs children in dealing with school districts”
New law aids parents of special needs children in dealing with school districts is an article in the Tampa Bay Times about a new state law in Florida, but it offers some perspectives helpful for parents (and teachers) of special needs children everywhere. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Help Engage Parents Of Children With Special Needs – Help Me Find More.
JUL 22
Useful English/Spanish Parent Resources From Edutopia
Edutopia has just announced they’ve translated two useful parent resources into Spanish: A Parent’s Guide to 21st-Century Learning and Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know. I’m adding them to The Best Multilingual Resources For Parents.
More On Today’s Parents’ Poll On School Issues
Earlier today, I posted about a nationwide poll of parent opinions on school issues that was released today. Here are a couple of additional articles on the poll I’ll be adding to that post: What parents really think about school reform is by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post. AFT: Current Ed. Policies Don’t Work, Are Unpopular With Parents is from Education Week.
“Poll: Parents don’t support many education policy changes”
Poll: Parents don’t support many education policy changes is the headline of a Washington Post article today. Here are the first two paragraphs: Most parents with children in public schools do not support recent changes in education policy, from closing low-performing schools to shifting public dollars to charter schools to private school vouchers, according to a new poll to be released Monday by
JUL 21
Jeez, Why Wouldn’t You Want Parents To See Students’ Tests?
Why do schools refuse to send exams home? is a post by Washington Post writer Jay Mathews about a policy by many schools in that area of not sending tests and exams home for parents to see. Perhaps it’s just my ignorance, but I’ve never heard of any school having that policy. If parents have the energy and interest to see them, let them see them — and don’t force them to come to school to view the
JUL 20
“What can schools sell instead of candy? Trash bags”
The only posts I’ve written about parent fundraising for schools can be found at The Best Resources For Learning About Parent Fundraising & Equity Issues list. What can schools sell instead of candy? Trash bags, though, has just been published by the Associated Press and gives a decent overview of how schools are selling a variety of items for raising funds — including a number of logistical i
“Ideas to Increase Parent Communication in Schools”
Ideas to Increase Parent Communication in Schools is a post by principal Eric Sheninger that includes a number of useful ideas. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents.
Quote Of The Day: Asking Genuine Questions
Increase Your Team’s Curiosity is an important article in the Harvard Business Review. Change the word “team” to “students” throughout the article, and you’ll see why I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About Asking Good Questions — Help Me Find More. Here’s an excerpt:
Yet Another Good Piece For Students On Learning & The Brain
Photo Credit: hurleygurley via Compfight Over past couple of weeks, I’ve discovered some very student accessible articles on what learning physically does to the brain, and I’ve added them to The Best Resources For Showing Students That They Make Their Brain Stronger By Learning (you can also find links there to the lessons I use with them). Thanks to kdwashburn, I learned about a nice piece in
NASA Video: Watch US Heat Up by 2100
You can read more about NASA’s latest video on climate change showing what happens to the United States. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change.
JUL 25
Final Version Of New Theory Of Knowledge Guide
I previously posted the draft version of the new International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge Guide (see The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2013 – So Far). They’ve finalized it, and you can see that final version here. I didn’t notice any substantial changes from the draft version (though, of course, I might have missed something), so the comments I made on it still hold true for this o
Free Email Newsletter Sent-Out
I’ve just emailed my free monthly email newsletter to 2,000 subscribers. You can easily subscribe to it here.
July’s Best Posts From This Blog
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here). Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this p
July’s “The Best…” Lists — There Are Now 1,155 Of Them
Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 1,155 of them categorized here): The Best Resources For “Moon Day” All My 2013 “The Best…” Lists (So Far) Related To Social Studies In One Place The Best Sites For Learning About The Battle Of Gettysburg The Best Examples Of School Reformer Irony All My 2013 “The Best…” Lists (So Far) On Education Policy In
“Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy — Special Edition
Usually, I just do a once-a-week “round-up” of good posts and articles on education policy issues. However, I’m a bit backlogged, so here’s a special edition: Education as the Great Equalizer: “More Myth than Reality” is by Paul Thomas. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Why Improving Education Is Not THE Answer To Poverty & Inequality. England vs Scotland: Competing school reform visions
July’s Best Tweets — Part Four
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post. If you don’t use Twit
Video: “RHex the Parkour Robot”
Meet a robot that is designed to go “anywhere”: I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.
Excellent (& Sad) Infographic: “What happened to history’s refugees?”
The Guardian has published an excellent infographic titled What happened to history’s refugees? It charts some of the largest “human movements” in history, starting at 740 BC and ending at today. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day, which was last month.
JUL 24
The Best Examples Of Turning Problems Into Opportunities — Help Me Find More
When I was fifteen, I met a man who had worked with Gandhi in India. He told me that the key to Gandhi’s success was that “he looked at every problem as an opportunity, not as a pain in the butt.” I suspect that Gandhi might have put it a bit differently but, nevertheless, hearing that — and remembering it — has had a profoundly positive impact on my life. Here’s a beginning list of The Best Exam
Nice Short Video On Scaffolding
This is a short video on scaffolding from Beyond The Bubble, a history site about which I’ve previously posted. Thought it talks about history, its scaffolding recommendations can be helpful in any subject. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction.
More Resources On Formative Assessment
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Formative Assessment: The Fundamentals of Formative Assessment is from ASCD. 22 Easy Formative Assessment Techniques for Measuring Student Learning is from The Northwest Evaluation Association. I’m not a big fan of using digital devices for formative assessment, but I know it works well for others. Here are some related resources from
The Best Posts & Articles About The Role Of Economists In Education
I’ve written a number of posts over the years skeptical of the central role research from many economists have played in “school reform” efforts. I certainly don’t dismiss their work. I just view it in the context of being data-informed and not being data-driven. In other words, the numbers and the models used in many studies don’t tell the whole story. Here are my choices for The Best Posts &
Vizalizer Is A New Tool For Creating Infographics
Vizalizer is a new tool for creating infographics. It lets you make ten each month for free. I think it’s probably not quite as easy as some of the other tools on The Best Resources For Creating Infographics list, but it could still be useful. Here’s a video about it:
Video: “The Syrian Conflict in five minutes”
I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Learning About What’s Happening In Syria:
JUL 23
Infographic: Western Wildfires and Climate Change
Here’s an infographic from The Union of Concerned Scientists. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Forest Fires.
New Report On ELLs & Common Core
I think it’s pretty clear that English Language Learners are a pretty low priority as far as implementation of the Common Core Standards are concerns, and Californian’s Together have put together a pretty good toolkit explaining those problems. Of course, one potential benefit of being a low-priority is that we teachers of ELLs, and our students, might be left alone, but I’m not counting on that.
The Best Resources On Why Improving Education Is Not THE Answer To Poverty & Inequality
That’s a quote from a very insightful piece in The New York Times today titled Inequality, Mobility and the Policy Agenda They Imply. Better schools and better education are important, but it’s not going to be enough for many of our students. Here are some of my previous posts on the topic, and I hope readers will contribute additional resources: Knowledge Isn’t Power — “Power is Power” New Resea
Quote Of The Day: Randi Weingarten On Nurturing Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers unveiled a poll yesterday showing that parents don’t support many actions being taken in the name of “school reform” (see “Poll: Parents don’t support many education policy changes” (Plus, Links To Previous Polls) ). Here’s a quote from a speech Randi Weingarten, head of the AFT, gave at the event (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip):
Photo: Earth Seen From Saturn
You better believe I’m adding this photo of earth from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft near Saturn to The Best Images Taken In Space. You can see more of NASA’s photos here and read about the mission here.
JUL 22
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
I’ve started a somewhat regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention: REMINDER: Eva Buyuksimkesyan is hosting the next EFL, ELL, ESL Blog Carnival on August 1st, and the theme will be Songs in ELT Classrooms. You can learn more it at her blog post and contribute a post though this submission
Rube Goldberg Machines Galore
If you like Rube Goldberg Machines, you’ll like: 2 Rube Goldberg Machines is an interactive with video and questions created by Renée Maufroid. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Rube Goldberg Machines. Thanks to Michelle Henry for the tip. McDonalds built a Rube Goldberg machine, digitized it, and turned it into a series of online games. I’m not going to add it to “The Best…”
The Latest Example Of School Reformer Irony
I’ve added today’s tweet from Michelle Rhee to The Best Examples Of School Reformer Irony: Being solution-oriented in education requires adults to stop thinking in terms of 'us' vs 'them'. Solutions are what is best for kids. — Michelle Rhee (@MichelleRhee) July 22, 2013
Infographic: Health Care Reform
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Online Resources For Learning About Health Care Reform: Infographic by Clarity Way Thanks to Cool Infographics for the tip.
If You Want To Influence People To Change, Then You Want To Read Atul Gawande’s New Article
Slow Ideas: Some innovations spread fast. How do you speed the ones that don’t? is the title of Atul Gawande’s new article in The New York, which is thankfully not behind a paywall. During my nineteen year career as a community organizer, we described organizing as just an other word for relationship-building. And Gawande’s article is a great explanation about how, in most situations, change happe
More Online Geography Games
Here are two new additions to The Best Online Geography Games: GR8CTZ — Great Cities of the World challenges you to guess which cities you’re seeing in Google Street View. It has different difficulty levels. LocateStreet is a similar game using Street View. One nice feature is that it offers clues. Thanks to Google Maps Mania for the tips.
JUL 21
Results Of Important Poll Of Parents Released Today
I’ve just published a post over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School, titled “Poll: Parents don’t support many education policy changes” (Plus, Links To Previous Polls). It’s about an important poll of parents that was just conducted, and includes links to previous poll results, too.
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” — July
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful
Article On Learning & The Brain That’s Perfect For Tenth, Eleventh, & Twelfth Graders
Photo Credit: Robert Fornal via Compfight In my books and here in the blog I’ve shared my lessons on helping students see how learning physically affects the brain. I’ve included two articles that I have students read, and they’re very accessible — probably from higher elementary to ninth-grade. They can work for holder students, too, but I think they’re a bit too simple for them. Today, Salon p
It Looks Like Nate Silver Is Bringing His Stats Knowledge To Education
I’ve previously posted about polling wizard Nate Silver’s interest in education (see A Few Points About Education From Nate Silver’s “The Signal And The Noise” (Plus A Video) ). He’s been in the news this week as he makes the switch from The New York Times to ESPN. Read what Politico has to say about today about his future: Nate will appear on the air on ESPN and ABC, and will get “verticals,” or
After This Video Trailer, Who Isn’t Going To Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson’s ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’?
It will be a 13-segment series on Fox in the Spring of 2014…
Video: “What if you had the chance of a life time, but blew it because you didn’t understand the language?”
Thanks to Kristyn Paul, I learned about his fun video. I’m adding it to The Best Funny Videos Showing The Importance Of Being Bilingual Or Multilingual:
Even More Resources On Nelson Mandela
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Nelson Mandela: From Prisoner to President: Mandela’s Impact on the World is a slideshow from the PBS News Hour. Happy Birthday, Madiba! South Africa Honors 95-Year-Old Nelson Mandela is also from the PBS News Hour. Mandela’s Birthday and Trayvon Martin’s Loss is from The New Yorker.
More Helpful Resources On Writing A Book
Here are some new additions to So, You Want To Write A Book? Here’s The Best Advice…: 5 Things Beginners Need to Know About E-Book Publishing is by Jane Friedman. How To Self-Publish A Bestseller: Publishing 3.0 is from TechCrunch.
“Teachers As ‘Givers, Takers & Matchers’: An Interview With Adam Grant”
Teachers As ‘Givers, Takers & Matchers1: An Interview With Adam Grant is my newest post over at Education Week Teacher. Adam Grant is the author of the best-selling book Give and Take.
JUL 20
What In The World Is Rahm Emanuel Thinking?
Nationally recognized teacher @xianb8 gets laid off & replaced by new TFA tchrs? This is NOT acceptable. Not at all. http://t.co/Vgyon7xfJM — Camika Royal (@DrCamikaRoyal) July 20, 2013 Massive lay-offs are happening in Chicago. Here’s an excerpt from the Chicago Sun Times: Flanked by teachers and parents Friday afternoon, CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey called the layoffs “outrageous.” “The
Video: This Goat Will “Either Find A Way Or Make One”
“I shall either find a way or make one” has been attributed to Hannibal, though he probably didn’t say it. This goat seems to exemplify that expression — no matter who said it. I’m adding it to The Best Video Clips On Goal-Setting.
Video: “An Experiment in Gratitude”
I share lesson plans I use in my class on gratitude, and also have a The Best Resources On “Gratitude” list. Here’s a nice video to add to the list, and to the lessons: Thanks to Michelle Henry for the tip.
More Resources On Trayvon Martin Verdict
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources For Lessons On Trayvon Martin: Florida Case Spurs Painful Talks Between Black Parents and Their Children is from The New York Times. Black boys denied the right to be young is by Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post. Teaching Trayvon
The Best Resources For “Moon Day”
Today is the anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon, and apparently it is celebrated as Moon Day (that was news to me). Here are some previously-posted “The Best…” lists that are related to the moon, as well as some infographics: The Best Resources For Learning About Neil Armstrong The Best Sites To Learn About The Apollo 11 Moon Landing The Best Resources About The “Supermoon” 8 Ph
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are several relatively recent good posts and articles on education policy issues: Five basic lessons on public education (short and long versions) is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Providing An “Overall” Perspective On Education Policy. Denver Teachers Push Back on Suspension Cuts is from Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On LA’s Banning Of Suspen
Infographic: “50 Crazy Facts About The Winter Olympics”
The Winter Olympics are coming up in six months, and I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: 50 Crazy Facts About The Winter Olympics [Infographic] infographic